Draft Strategies

          Don’t listen to anyone who tells you that you have to draft according to a certain strategy in order to win. You can win with any draft strategy – you just have to pick the right players. Some of the common narratives this year are you can’t win if you don’t take at least one RB in the first two rounds, and you can’t win by taking a QB early. Hogwash! You can win by implementing either or even both of those strategies – if you construct the rest of your roster properly. Just be sure to know what you are getting yourself into when you adopt a certain strategy – just wingin’ it is not a good idea!

          Below, we’ve outlined various Draft-Strategies, some of which are being deployed more than others. A lot of these strategies cross over and can be combined with each other. There’s no one strategy that you have to adopt. You’ll also notice that there are a few commonalities:

Almost every strategy involves waiting on QB.

Almost every strategy involves drafting a TE in the first 5 rounds.

Almost every strategy involves drafting at least 2 RB’s in the first 5 rounds.

And,

Almost every strategy involves selecting your defense and kicker with your last two picks.

          That doesn’t mean that you have to draft 2 RB’s and a TE in the first 5 rounds, wait on QB, and take your kicker and defense last, but those are the most commonly practiced strategies this year, and for good reason. Still, a case can be made for each and every one of these strategies. We’ll start with the strategies being implemented at the top of the draft, and work our way down from there.

          In the first 2 rounds, you have 14 Strategies to choose from: RB-WR, WR-RB, RB-RB, WR-WR, RB-QB, QB-RB, WR-QB, QB-WR, RB-TE, TE-RB, WR-TE, TE-WR, QB-TE, & TE-QB.

RB-WR: RB-WR is the most commonly practiced. It makes sense to balance your roster by taking a stud at two separate positions. You should take the RB first because there are less stud-RB’s than there are stud-WR’s. You’d rather have your pick of the RB’s in Round 1 before “settling” for whoever falls to you at WR (out of Tyreek Hill, OBJ, Juju, Adam Theilen, & Mike Evans) in Round 2.

WR-RB: It makes sense to take one of the elite WR’s if you love one of them and think that James Conner or Joe Mixon will fall to you in Round 2. Even if you aren’t expecting one of those two backs to fall, it makes sense if you feel comfortable taking a chance on an injury-prone stud (Todd Gurley or Dalvin Cook) or a high-upside youngster (Nick Chubb, Kerryon Johnson, or Aaron Jones) to start your RB corps.   

RB-RB: It makes sense to pair two stud-RB’s to start, especially with RB being as scarce as it is, and you needing to start 2 of them. You can grab WR’s later, in Rounds 3-6, There are plenty of upper-tier options still left in rounds 3 & 4 (like Robert Woods, Brandin Cooks, Stefon Diggs, Julian Edelman, Kenny Golladay, Tyler Boyd, and Chris Godwin) that you can start your WR corps with.

WR-WR: If you can get 2 stud-WR’s to start your draft, why not? You can take 2 RB’s & a TE, or even 3 RB’s with your next three picks. The WR’s in the first two rounds are safer investments than the RB’s because they touch the ball less often and are therefore less likely to get hurt. You can get by at RB by loading up in the middle and late-rounds.   

RB-QB: The idea is to pair a stud-RB with Pat Mahomes, and then get your WR1, RB2, and TE in Rounds 3, 4, and 5.

QB-RB: The same idea as RB-QB. It makes sense to get Pat Mahomes first and then settle for whichever RB falls to you in Round 2.

WR-QB: The idea is to use your first two picks on two relatively safe assets – a top WR and the best QB in the game. It doesn’t make sense to invest at RB in the first 2 Rounds because of how injury-prone the position tends to be.

QB-WR: The same idea as WR-QB. It makes sense to get Pat Mahomes first and then settle for whichever WR falls to you in Round 2.

RB-TE: It makes sense to start with a stud at the two scarcest positions (RB & TE) and then stockpile middle-tier options at the deeper positions (WR & QB) after. If you think Travis Kelce will fall to you in Round 2, it makes sense to take your pick of the RB’s in Round 1.

TE-RB: The same idea as RB-TE. It makes sense to get Travis Kelce first if you don’t think he’ll be there in Round 2. Then you can settle for whichever RB falls to you. You can get WR’s and a QB later.

WR-TE: Not a lot of people are using this strategy, although, it’s not entirely illogical. The idea would be to pair a stud-WR with the best TE, and to then take RB’s in rounds 3, 4, and possibly 5 to make up for passing on them in the first 2 rounds.

TE-WR: The same idea as WR-TE. It makes sense to get the top option at the scarcest position (Travis Kelce) first and then settle for the safest asset available (whichever WR falls to you) in Round 2.

QB-TE: The logic here would be to pair the highest-scoring player in fantasy (Pat Mahomes) with the top-option at the scarcest position (Travis Kelce). It makes sense if you believe that you can find value at RB & WR in the middle-to-late rounds.

TE-QB: The same idea as QB-TE. It makes sense if you think it’ll be easier to get Kelce in the 1^st round and Mahomes in the 2^nd.

         

          Those are your 14 options to start the Draft. Once you decide how to start your team in the first two rounds, you need to decide which approach to adopt in the middle-to-late rounds –

Balanced Approach: The idea is to build the strongest possible lineup by filling your starting lineup first before drafting bench positions. It makes sense to sacrifice some depth on your bench (at RB and WR) in order to acquire quality starting options at QB & TE first.

RB-Dominant/WR-Punt: It makes sense to wait on WR until the middle rounds or to pair one stud WR early with just two or three other late-round WR’s, leaving the draft with no more than 4 WR’s total. Ideally, you should take 3 RB’s, 1 WR, and 1 TE with your first 5 picks because the RB options are shaky after Round 6 and the WR options aren’t. You can get a solid WR2 in Round 6, and a WR3 in Round 7, or you can even grab more RB’s in those rounds and get the WR’s later. You can get your QB late too.

WR-Dominant/RB-punt: The idea is to take WR’s with 4 of your first 6 picks, taking 1 RB and 1 TE with the other 2 picks. Building the core of your team with WR’s makes sense because they are typically more stable assets than RB’s. You can take 1 RB that you are comfortable with in the early rounds and pair him with a few high-upside options (like Latavius Murray, Darrell Henderson, Kareem Hunt, Jaylen Samuels, Rashaad Penny, & Matt Breida) in the middle rounds before rounding out your RB corps with high-floor guys (like Duke Johnson & Dion Lewis) and high-upside rookies (like Devin Singletary, Darwin Thompson, Justice Hill & Tony Pollard.)

QB-Early: The idea is to select your starting QB by Round 6, grabbing one of the few (other than Mahomes) who have separated themselves from the rest of the pack (like Deshaun Watson, Aaron Rodgers, Matt Ryan, or Baker Mayfield). Once you’ve drafted your starters at RB & WR (and possibly TE), it makes sense to take one of the top QB’s before adding depth at the other positions.

QB-Late: The idea is to load up on RB & WR depth in the middle rounds first, and then get your starting QB after Round 10. It makes sense to load up on RB’s and WR’s because you can still get a quality starting QB (like Phillip Rivers, Jared Goff, Big Ben, Jameis Winston, or Cam Newton) late.

Punt-QB: The idea is to wait until your very last pick to select a QB. It makes sense in 1QB leagues because there will always be available QB talent on waivers. Streaming the available quarterback with the best matchup each week can earn you just as many fantasy points as you’d earn if you simply selected a middle-tier QB (like Rivers, Goff, Big Ben, Winston, or Newton) and started them every week. If you don’t want to stream, you can just wait and select two QB’s late, and then rotate the two based on whichever one has the better matchup. You should prioritize acquiring RB & WR depth first because it will be difficult to find talent at those positions on the waiver wire.

TE-Early: The idea is to prioritize getting one of the top 6 TE’s, taking Travis Kelce in Round 1 or 2, George Kittle or Zach Ertz in Round 3, or O.J. Howard, Evan Engram, or Hunter Henry in Round 5. It makes sense because the TE’s available after that come with significantly more risk. Getting one of those 6 should give you a major advantage at the position.

TE-Late: The idea is to load up on RB’s & WR’s in the first 6 rounds before taking Jared Cook in the 7^th round, Vance McDonald in the 8^th, or Eric Ebron after that. It makes sense if you have faith in Cook, McDonald, and/or Ebron.  

Punt-TE: The idea is to wait until the double-digit rounds to pick your starting TE. It makes sense to just “punt” if you miss out on the top-6 options, especially if you are not a believer in Jared Cook, Vance McDonald, or Ebron in the middle rounds. It makes sense to pair 2 high-upside options late (like Mark Andrews, Jordan Reed, Jack Doyle, Trey Burton, or Dallas Goedert) together and hope that one of them “pops.” It also makes sense to pair one high-upside option with one high-floor option (like Delanie Walker, Kyle Rudolph, Austin Hooper, or Greg Olsen) if you want a little more security.

DEF-Early: Once you have filled your starting lineup and have selected one or two bench players, it makes sense to grab one of the top defenses, whether it’s the Bears’ defense in Round 9, or the Ravens, Rams, or Vikings defense in Rounds 10-12. The options at RB, WR, and TE are a crapshoot after Round 10 anyways, so you might as well get a top defense first before selecting from the crapshoot options available at the skill positions.

Punt-DEF: It doesn’t make sense to reach on one of the top defenses in Rounds 10-12, especially when there are still possibly valuable sleepers available at RB, WR, and TE. You can still get a solid defense (like Dallas, Denver, Cleveland, Buffalo, or Tennessee) with your last pick. It can also be more effective to just stream the available defense with the best matchup each week, so it doesn’t make sense to waste an early round pick on one if you are going to just end up dropping them anyways.

K-Early: If you’re comfortable with your bench depth, it makes sense to grab a kicker around Round 11 or 12 if there’s one available (like Greg Zurlein, Justin Tucker, Will Lutz, or Harrison Butker) who could end up making a difference.  

Punt-K: It doesn’t make sense to reach for the top kickers because you can still find a reliable kicker with your last pick. It doesn’t matter if you have the worst kicker out of every team in your league, because even the worst kickers are still a stable source of points. You should prioritize building depth at RB and WR before taking a kicker last.

          See, depending on how you choose to look at it, every single one of these strategies holds up logistically. Some strategies offer a better chance of success than others, but none of them can be ruled out as “impossible” to win with. As long as you have a plan, and stick to it, don’t be afraid to do things your way.